The wonderment of a few drops of water

Well here we are, another week is going by and it’s still more sun than rain. Not that there’s anything unusual with this, after all, Southern California isn’t known for rain. Yes, I live in the part of California that’s a desert but enough is enough. I realize this is an example of the arrogance of the human race (or just me, whatever) for wanting to control the weather and to that I say, okay.

I love rain. There is nothing quite like the sound of it hitting the roof in the early morning. Being snuggled in bed late at night, with splatters of water hitting and running down the window is a sound reminiscent of old films, Key West, and drops falling from trees while kids take refuge.

Something about water, something so crucial, so fundamental to human life, even the sound of it resonates deeply within us. Water is part of the cycle of life on Earth, part of what makes life possible, so much so that it seems even our soul is in tune with the very molecules that make up water. And yet I live in a desert. I dunno.

Let’s hear it for rain, that wet, soggy, tiring and wonderful stuff

There is an old children’s rhyme that goes: “Rain, rain go away, come again some other day.” Now I suppose that there are kids who probably don’t like rain, kids who would rather be playing with a ball on a dry field. But what do they know of the wonderful secrets of rain? What do they know of nature’s art?

I’m sure that parents would rather their kids not get wet, laboring under the mistaken belief that getting wet can make you sick (note: it is germs and viruses and the like which make people sick, not regular old temperature). Let’s face it, these parents are just a bunch of wet blankets (excuse the pun), who probably haven’t had a Popsicle in fifteen years. It’s time to forget all the nonsense of practicality and just go for it. In other words, be a kid again.

Don’t you wish you actually could be a kid again? Not forever, of course, but just for a day or two (hey, the kid in me still wants to drive). Wouldn’t it be fun to see the world as a new thing just one more time? Splash in a puddle and still be excited instead of angered? Actually like sticking your tongue out to taste a drop of rain?

Well, give it a try. Just for a minute go back a few decades and remember. Think of the sounds, the newness. Be a kid again, one more time, in the rain.